LendingClub's shares rise as Shanda Group acquires stake

Singapore-based investment company Shanda Group has acquired an 11.7% stake in under-pressure LendingClub, pushing the beleaguered shares up more than 8% today.

Shanda has bought a total of about 29 million shares in LendingClub for $148.7 million. It also has call options to buy 15.7 million shares for $11.2 million.

San Francisco-based LendingClub's shares dived after chief executive and chairman Renaud Laplanche quit earlier in May after an internal probe found the peer-to-peer lender had knowingly sold an investor $22 million of loans that they did not want.

LendingClub matches people and businesses that need loans with those who want to provide them.

The company's market capitalisation soared into the billions shortly after it went public in late 2014, but Wall St has subsequently cooled towards it. The shares tumbled following the more recent revelations.

Shanda Asset Management Holdings, which is part of Shanda Group, said it bought the LendingClub shares because it saw them as an attractive investment opportunity.